2023-07-10 03:01:18
Montag, 10.07.2023, 03:01
The singer and director Brigitte Fassbaender, who staged Richard Wagner’s “Siegfried” and “Götterdämmerung” in Erl in the summer and will complete the Ring in 2024, was skeptical or surprised at Jonas Kaufmann’s appointment as Erl’s designated artistic director. The tenor, whom she appreciates artistically, “hardly meets the criteria of the tender,” said Fassbaender in the APA interview: “I would have liked Bernd Loebe’s theater knowledge to continue.”
Kaufmann will succeed the latter from autumn 2024. The decision to go with Kaufmann seems to her a little like a “concession to the event culture, where big names count more than artistic quality in itself,” complained the Berliner, who was director of the Tyrolean State Theater from 1999 to 2012. But some good things go hand in hand with that, according to the artist: “I’m convinced that his name will attract a large audience.” Finally, one shouldn’t forget that the topic of capacity utilization still resonates with politicians and is ultimately the most important thing.
Kaufmann, who will take over the Erl scepter as artistic director in September 2024, wishes her the best of luck. “But first he has to prove himself, especially since, apart from his international network, he hardly lives up to the directorship advertisement,” said the Kammersängerin clearly. The coming directorship is above all “a good decision for Kaufmann himself in his phase of life.”
Most recently, there had been quarrels in Erl regarding the appointment of the director. The German Loebe, longtime director of the Frankfurt Opera, was disappointed in April that his contract was not automatically renewed, which is why he ultimately did not apply for another period. Festival President Hans Peter Haselsteiner finally conjured up the 53-year-old tenor and audience favorite Jonas Kaufmann, who is to become the new “Mr. Erl”, in June. Kaufmann’s contract runs until 2030.
The events surrounding Loebe in the course of the directorship bid “went awkwardly”, Fassbaender did not mince his words in this regard either. Since taking office at the end of 2019, the theater manager has “pulled the cart out of the dirt”, then had to deal with Corona and had no time at all to “do continuous artistic work”. In any case, her personal idea would have been “to give Loebe’s plans another chance.” “It’s a shame” that Loebe is leaving following the end of the 2024 summer season.
Fassbaender also had nothing but praise, at least from an artistic point of view, for the former artistic director of the Erler Festival, Gustav Kuhn. “Kuhn did a great job creating and establishing this place here for Wagner,” she said. According to Fassbaender, Kuhn was also “a great conductor” who was driven by a great vision.
So it was only logical for her to stage Wagner in Erl. “I want to make this as clear, understandable and as entertaining as possible,” she gave an insight into her approach to Wagner. “I also start from the text, because with Wagner the text is just as important as the music”. The room, the Passionsspielhaus, is very attractive in this respect: “The limitation here is interesting because nothing distracts from the stage and the content”. They find a “wonderful, suggestive space” and can thus realize the timeless material of the Wagner operas in the best possible way.
Contest:
3 x Stand-Up-Paddle
Try TT-ePaper for 1€
Fassbaender stated that she didn’t even want to use the word “concept” for her dealings with Wagner and his works. “Instead, together with my actors, I embark on a journey through this inexhaustible cosmos,” says the director. In any case, staging Wagner is “always a challenge” because “you always discover something new and then you might actually start once more,” she said.
In any case, with their Wagner productions they want to use all their might to counteract the “decline in education, which I very much regret,” said Fassbaender. “With Wagner there is so much mythological material and knowledge packed,” she enthused. It is also important to inspire young audiences: “This requires consistent communication and good pedagogical work”. Wagner “is a highlight of our culture” and must remain a part of it because, despite his difficult personality, he was a “genius, before whom all objections must ultimately fall silent”.
(The interview was conducted by Markus Stegmayr/APA)
1688959383
#Fassbander #skeptical #merchant #order #Erl